信息学院，王一帆
在芝加哥大学的暑期项目中我选择了C语言程序设计和学术英语两门课。C语言课程与上学期的信息科学导论类似，老师深入浅出地介绍了C语言以及一些基本的数据结构。前两周的课程还算轻松，而越往后随着课程的深入，我需要去翻阅课程的参考书才能完全搞懂课上介绍的知识。C语言每周都有一次quiz，期末有个大考。而这些考试有个共同之处，只有使用最简单的解法才能得满分，否则只能得部分的分数。除了每周的作业以外，老师会在每周的lab时间帮助同学利用本周知识完成另一个小程序，这样能更好地帮助理解课堂上的理论。
英语课的老师是一位热情洋溢的美国人。这门课的教学方式也十分奇特，课堂并不仅限于课内，而是能更多地从课外学到知识。我们的评分中，两次演讲占了很大的比重。第一次是向老年人介绍科技产品的使用，第二次则是介绍一个自己去过的芝加哥社区。这就要求了我们从课外自己去挖掘信息。尤其是第二次，我和小伙伴来到了芝加哥最北边的社区，采访了许多居民，从不同的角度了解了这个由巴基斯坦和印度人管理的社区。这门课的作业也十分有趣，让我们更深入地了解了芝加哥的文化和历史。例如，去沙滩看日出，去市区采访以及收听城市广播。
在这五周充实的课程中我收获的不仅是知识，更多地则是对知识的渴望。我觉得这才是美国教育中最重要的部分吧。
I chose Introduction to Computer Science and Intensive Academic English during my University of Chicago’s summer session. The former one is similar to Introduction to Python that I took last semester. Professor introduced C programming language and some basic data structures in class. The first two weeks' content seems simple but things gets tough while time flies. I had to turn to references for help to fully understand what professor is talking about in the last few week. Besides the homework, professor will help us understand the content taught each week by teaching us to write another program during the lab time. The highlight of the course is that every quiz and exam requires you to use the simplest way to solve the problem or you will only get partial points. For example, using recursion to program will receive more credits than using loop, but it is more complex to use recursion.
When it comes to Intensive Academic English, I have to introduce our enthusiastic teacher, Pamela. She sometimes dances in class to express herself, which really impressed me. In this course, we are supposed to learn more outside the classroom. One example is that two presentations make up a great part of our final evaluation. One is to introduce high-tech products to senior citizens while the other is to introduce a neighborhood in Chicago to my classmates. To prepare for the second one, my partners and I went to the northernmost neighborhood in Chicago called West Ridge to figure out why Pakistan residents and Indian residents which are two major races there get along with each other while these two countries stay eye to eye. We interviewed many people to generate a comprehensive view of this neighborhood. The homework is also quite interesting, such as watching sunrise on beach, listening to the board cast and have a tour in downtown.
I learned not only knowledge during five weeks, but more importantly the desire to learn as well. May such desire stay with me through my whole life of pursuing the truth.
